The Meyerowitz Stories is a movie that debuted at the Cannes film festival, and ever since then, there has been a ton of buzz surrounding the official release. After years of Adam Sandler making critical bombs, this seemed like a big change of pace for him. Director Noah Baumbauch has finally led the “cursed” actor to a critical success.

The movie has been added to Netflix, and even though many people expected it to be good, this was still incredibly surprising. Adam Sandler, up until now, has struggled to make a genuinely good movie since he made his infamous deal with Netflix.

There are some amazing performances in the film, specifically Ben Stiller and Dustin Hoffman. These two actors are both in the best scene of the movie, which was is in my opinion, the lunch scene, leading into the confrontation with the man who “stole” dad’s jacket.

Adam Sandler, although his movies are often noted as “fun”, has failed to make a truly good movie that is adored by critics for many years. Punch Drunk Love, which came out over a decade ago, was his last critically acclaimed film. Unsurprisingly, the quality of the film overall, goes with the quality of Sandler’s acting. For example, in ‘The Ridiculous Six’, Sandler’s performance seems annoying, but in this film, his performance is funny and realistic, proving he does still have the capability to act well.

Walking into this movie I expected a light comedy. However,  this is one of the most realistic movies about a dysfunctional family that has been made in a long time. The plot of dysfunctional families is overused, but when it is done right, it can be incredible, like in this case. Some of the best movies are about a dysfunctional family, from The Royal Tenenbaums to Little Miss Sunshine, there are many amazing options to choose from. Now Meyerowitz Stories might be up there with the other classics.

The plot is not only touching, with well developed characters, but is also funny, sad and intriguing, all thanks to director Noah Baumbach’s great ability to create meaningful characters. We have seen this ability in both ‘While We’re Young’ and in ‘The Squid and the Whale’.

Overall, from the storyline and the near flawless acting, and to the hilarious yet touching script, this adds up to be a great movie, which is definitely worth checking out on Netflix.